High-Profile highlights the Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences, saying “The Engineering, Innovation & Sciences building at Wentworth Institute of Technology features a first-floor makerspace and high-end additive manufacturing lab. Working with Leers Weinzapfel Associates, BVH provided MEP/FP and technology design on this first new academic building on campus in 40 years.”

The John W. Over Design Building was also featured, as the article states, “The John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst houses classrooms and studios, computer labs, materials-testing, green-building and digital fabrication laboratories, a wood shop, and an outdoor working area. BVH worked closely with Leers Weinzapfel Associates, providing site utility, MEP/FP, technology and security engineering.”

Read full article here

The new Boston Public Library Roslindale branch had its groundbreaking.

A complete renovation of a 1960’s library and transformation into a library of the digital century. A new welcoming entry, community room, reading lounges, computer stations and an urban reading garden will bring back the vital place of community learning and gathering for a diverse Roslindale community. 

The renovation takes the most sustainable approach by keeping in place almost all of the existing building structure and envelope with limited strategic new insertions at key areas such as the building entry and an urban reading garden to give it a new identity. The reconfigured interior efficiently organizes all the enclosed spaces along the northern edge of the building while strengthening the unique semi-circular open reading/book stack space that is anchored by a shallow dome at the center with clerestory light.

Given a modest budget, a complete understanding of the building’s existing structure was necessary in order to avoid unnecessary and costly structural modifications often associated with renovations. The new entry was surgically inserted to accommodate existing structure and new chases for a complete new MEP system was carefully coordinated with the building’s existing waffle slab floor.

The new entry and canopy allows for universal access at grade with no separate stairs or ramps. A wall of colorful Terracotta Baguettes in a blue color theme as a metaphor for books on a shelf enlivens the entry and gives the library its new identity.

The nation’s first large-scale mass timber residence hall project and living learning setting, Leers Weinzapfel led a design collaborative including Modus Studio (Fayetteville, AR), Mackey Mitchell Architects (St. Louis), and OLIN (Philadelphia), in the realization of this new campus gateway project. The 202,027-square-foot Adohi Hall creates a new residential college with emphasis on a creative live learn environment within a relaxed, informal, tree-lined landscape that re-conceptualizes university housing.

The Center for Engineering, Innovation, and Sciences provides a home for the next evolution in the collegiate study of multiple engineering disciplines. As the Institute’s program transitions from engineering technology to engineering and innovation, this four-story, 75,000-square-foot building comprises a dynamic environment for multi-disciplinary collaboration among students of biology, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and two of its newest programs, biomedical engineering, and biological engineering.

Learn more about the Award and 2019 Recipients here

The Design Building is a highly visible demonstration of sustainable design practice. It’s the first and largest cross laminated timber (CLT) academic building in the US. The envelope is highly-efficient, with dedicated mechanical equipments zoned for maximum efficiency, with radiant flooring and chilled beams for energy savings. Calculated expanse of glazing and skylights provide maximum daylight to the building’s interior to significantly reduce artificial lighting energy. Storm water management concept directs roof runoff via sculptural scupper to a “spring source” at the top of the site and filters the water via series of successive bio-swales and timber dams to the lower end of the site and eventually back to the Connecticut River.

Learn more about the Award and 2019 Recipients here

For the second year in a row, LWA has been recognized as an Emerging Professional Friendly Firm in the medium firms category!

The AIA New England Emerging Professional Friendly Firm program aims to identify firm initiatives that promote the advancement of Emerging Professionals through professional development and personal growth opportunities. The accuracy of the data reported through this questionnaire benefits firms, firm leadership and Emerging Professionals.

Learn more about this award and the 2019 recipients here

The Greenfield Recorder notes, According to the American Institute of Architects, the new Justice Center “adds significant new space and re-conceives the original building to create a coherent new whole for Greenfield’s future.”

Josiah Stevenson, Principal at LWA and Principal-In-Charge on this project is quoted saying, “We’re very honored to receive the award. It was a challenge to build a modern building in a town that hasn’t seen a lot of change in that way — we worked with the local Historical Society to make sure we were preserving its history. It reflects democracy. It’s welcoming and transparent, and I think that’s what people see now that it’s completed.”

See full Greenfield Recorder article here
See 2019 AIA New England Awards here

This past weekend at the John W. Over Design Building at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Leers Weinzapfel Associates was awarded three AIA New England Design Awards as well as the Emerging Professional Firm Friendly Award in the medium firm size category. The Wentworth Institute of Technology Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences received a citation, The Franklin County Justice Facility received a Merit Award, and the John W. Over Design Building received a Merit Award. It was a great night of recognition and an honor to receive the awards in a building we built and are proud of.

In a conference at the Fay Jones School of Architecture organized by Dean Peter MacKeith, Andrea Leers, Principal at Leers Weinzapfel Associates discussed the process of building Adohi Hall at the University of Arkansas.